Hi Theo, thanks for further explanations. Even to a technical dummy like me that makes perfect sense:-)

Hi Jens
Actually those yards are not heavy in general. Honestly I think the idea is more of not loosing space when opening the holds on deck, they have to be stored somewhere. Another point is,, those covers have very low maintenance, beside paint and rubber not much, Hydraulik gives over time a lot problem and plenty maintenance. The size of the hydraulic does not really maater, I mean now by power,, 300 bar or 600 bar,,all no big deal,, but here the storage and utilizing space
I think is the biggest factor I would say.
As for the cargo,,I meant more to get cargo into the hold, with a big long opening much easier and bigger cargoes can be placed into the holds.

Hi Theo, now that I see Al Ruff's photos where she carries the yacht as deck cargo, I see what you mean concerning a hydraulic system.

Well, I was acting on the assumption that nowadays there'd be a hydraulic solution on every modern ship with hatches:-)
You live and learn...

And Theo, great set of photos of Industrial More you got there!

One thing what I can think off that those hatchcovers a heavy because of heavy deck cargoes to be taken. A hydraulic system which has to move those covers must be rather strong. The other thing what comes to mind,,this way they can open the entire hold length and do not loose any space by stowing the covers somewhere,,be it in a pocket or on other covers. They can place them all ashore for the time being

Seems to be the same here
http://www.shipspotting.com/gallery/photo.php?lid=2161776
why,,god knows,,but usually it comes down to money or but bad planning, which in this case would somehow surprise me. Would be really interesting to know why that was done like that.

So (this is jut guessing on my part) they chose to use the cranes because this was less expensive with regard to the costs constructing the ship?

Indeed it could have been easier to have a separate gantry hatch cover crane or some mechanism to open/close the hold without increasing the wear on those cranes.

Denis, pardon my ignorance, but wouldn't it have been easier if they could have been moved electronically, so that someone would just have to push a button on the bridge... In my opinion it's a bit laborious to use the cranes each time you want to open/close the hold...

This is an interesting vessel for me, partly because they have to use those 80t deck cranes every time to open/close the hold. Good thing is that all hatch covers can be stacked in front of accommodation, but the cranes have to be used even if the cargo is simple grain.